Newt pointed out in his speech that, indeed, government is ill-suited to do the development. Instead, the idea is to provide an environment and incentives for that development (of space and technology.)
Now, that said, the prospect of the Chinese setting up permanent shop on the moon first IS a concern of the U.S. Government. Just for starters, that means, at some point, the Chinese surpass us in aviation and space technology. Think about what that means. And that’s just for starters. The Chinese are no fools. They are very smart, very ambitious, very hard workers, and, at this time in our civilization, better long term planners. They absolutely know what they are about.
As to your other point, in younger years, Gingrich was a reader of speculative fiction (Asimov, etc.) and the old “techie” rocket mags, so I hardly think his ideas are completely new, at least not to him. They certainly are not new to a lot of us in tech areas of work. But I think it took Obama management of NASA to make it clear just how far we have sunk. So, at some point you re-focus and re-fire: Are you saying there is a better place and time than the Florida primary to do so?
BTW, from a discussion on another thread I know you are a fellow music-lover: You really ought to hear those carbon nanotube diaphragm speakers! Pricey now, yes, but like early computers, they are but a foretaste of things to come. :-)
I just saw on Thursday that India has fired rockets successfully that have the range to reach all of China’s cities. Maybe we could let India cover our butt there and devote some money to a moon base.
Sadly, as the sound reproduction systems get better, my ears just get worse. :-)